4.  The applicant was born in 1959 and lives in the city of Sevastopol, Ukraine.
5.  At the material time the applicant was a military officer. In November 1998, on an order from his superior, a commanding officer of the A-3009 military unit, he was appointed to a lower post and imposed disciplinary sanctions for various infractions.
6.  In June 1999 the applicant brought proceedings in the Sevastopolskiy Garrison Military Court (Військовий суд Севастопольського гарнізону) against his commanding officer claiming that he had been sanctioned unfairly. The applicant sought moral damages.
7.  After several round of courts proceedings, on 20 August 2001 the Navy Military Court of Appeal (Апеляційний суд Військово-Морських Сил України, hereafter “the Navy Court”), acting as a first instance court, found that the disputed disciplinary sanctions had been imposed on the applicant contrary to the relevant military regulations and awarded him 5,000[1] Ukrainian hryvnas (UAH) against the military unit for moral damages. Considering this sum insufficient the applicant appealed in cassation. On 10 January 2002 the Supreme Court (Верховний Суд України) upheld this judgment.
8.  On 5 November 2001 the Nakhimovskiy District Bailiffs’ Service (Відділ державної виконавчої служби Нахімовського районного управління юстиції м. Севастополя, hereafter “the Nakhimovskiy Bailiffs’ Service”) instituted enforcement proceedings.
9.  After having attempted, in vain, to withdraw the awarded sum from the account of the military unit concerned, on 21 June 2002 the bailiffs returned the writ of execution to the applicant because of the debtor’s lack of funds. The applicant never resubmitted it to the Bailiff’s Service.
10.  In September 2002 the applicant attempted to bring administrative proceedings against the Nakhimovskiy Bailiffs’ Service for its alleged inactivity. On 26 September 2002 his application was found inadmissible by the Nakhimovskiy District Court of Sevastopol (Нахімовський районний суд м. Севастополь) on the ground of the applicant’s failure to pay court fees and to specify his claims.
11.  The applicant filed, to no avail, a number of criminal complaints against his commanding officer with various prosecutors and courts.
12.  The Government stated that in late 2005 the commanding officer on several occasions invited the applicant to visit the A-3009 military unit in order to collect the money due to him under the Navy Court’s judgment. The letters to this effect were sent to the applicant’s last known address. The applicant denied having received those letters, stating that his new address was known to the authorities. In particular it was indicated in his letters to the Court, the copies of which were sent to the Agent of the Government by the Court Registry.
13.  On 26 December 2005 the A-3009 military unit paid UAH 5,000 in cash to the applicant’s pension account. The Government did not produce any document related to this event. As the applicant objected to an unauthorised transaction in his account, the bank transferred this amount back to the account of the military unit.
14.  On 14 March 2006 the military unit A-3009 opened an account in the applicant’s name in the Oshchadbank Bank. According to the copy of bank receipt produced by the Government the reason for this transaction was specified as a “transfer of compensation for moral damage in accordance with a court decision of 20 August 2001 to Mr Mitin”.
15.  In early 2004 the applicant was dismissed from the military forces.
16.  In May 2004 he instituted proceedings in the Sevastopolskiy Garrison Military Court (Військовий суд Севастопольського гарнізону) challenging his dismissal.
17.  On 14 October 2004 the court rejected the applicant’s claim as being unsubstantiated. On 21 December 2004 the Navy Court rejected the applicant’s appeal and upheld this judgment. On 9 March 2005 the Supreme Court rejected the applicant’s appeal in cassation.